Dance Of The Dragons
Chapter 436 : Off To The Desert (1)

Chapter 436: Chapter 436 : Off To The Desert (1)

"Did you all hear what happened at Jiangnan?" A frequent visitor to the noodle shop said as soon as he took his seat among his friends.

Behind their table, the two men huddled in dark traveling cloaks went stiff in an instant.

"No, what happened?" His friend asked while munching a mouthful of meat dumplings.

"It is the funniest thing ever," the first man said with a giggle. "Apparently, the leader of the greatest cultivation sect in Jiangnan was murdered, and all the sects gathered to vanquish the murderer one morning. It turned out that the murderer escaped the night before with someone from the sects!"

The table broke into a cacophony of laughter. They slapped their hands against the table surface loudly while wiping tears from the ends of their eyes.

"And... And... They all gathered at that empty hill and went... ’Now what?’"

"Hahahahahahaha~!!!"

The louder the men laughed, the more uncomfortable one of the two cloaked men became.

Huang Taichen slid a wary glance at Qiao Wei’s face, which had initially been taut with anxiety. But as he discovered that the table before them was filled with idle gossipmongers, Qiao Wei’s expression melted into a sardonic smile, the tension draining from his shoulders like spilled water.

"Shizun, I am deeply sorry," Huang Taichen murmured for probably the hundredth time ever since they escaped from Jiangnan.

"I already told you to stop apologizing," Qiao Wei clicked his tongue. "Let them spread the rumors. It is not important."

Huang Taichen cut a painful grimace.

How could it not be important?

His shizun abandoned his sect to save him, this insignificant person with no cultivation talent and travel with him across the land!

Huang Taichen tried his best to be a dutiful and doting disciple to his shizun, but even he knew that there was nothing he could do to repay Qiao Wei’s kindness.

Qiao Wei not only saved his life, but restored his hope and faith in humanity.

A gust of wind blew through the area, sweeping sand into the eyes of the shop visitors.

"Arghhhhh the sand!"

"My eyes!!!"

The men at the table before him quickly fled after paying for their meal, and so did the other visitors.

"Finish your noodles," Qiao Wei told Huang Taichen. "We have a long way to go before we find a place to sleep."

Huang Taichen’s rotten reputation was known throughout the realm. Before restoring his reputation with hopefully Wushan Temple Sect’s help, Qiao Wei needed to find him a place to stay.

As the proverb went, one should hide a tree among trees.

What better place for Huang Taichen to hide than the Banyue tribe?

Luckily, the tribe lived in a remote desert far, far in the northern area.

Unluckily, they could only travel like common folk to avoid being caught easily.

So far, they had been lucky.

No one had found them, probably because one of them looked very different now.

Huang Taichen’s new appearance amazed even Qiao Wei at times.

The young man’s long raven hair had been brushed thoroughly and tied into a bun above his head, the scent of sandalwood oil clinging faintly to the strands.

He was now wearing one of the new robes that Qiao Wei bought him on the way, the coarse fabric surprisingly soft against his skin.

He was no longer barefoot, his feet now encased in a pair of sturdy leather shoes, the unaccustomed weight grounding him in a way he hadn’t expected. One could say that his current appearance was the exact opposite of his previous one.

No one would ever recognize him as that horrible demonic cultivator who murdered Shang Daoming and gouged out his heart.

"Shizun, please drink your tea," Huang Taichen clumsily poured tea for Qiao Wei, startling the latter out of his thoughts.

"En, thank you. I have drunk enough. Let’s go after we are done with our meal."

The two men paid for their meal and left as silently as they came, their footsteps swallowed by the dusty earth. Reaching the Banyue tribe’s homeland would take a full day by horses, a lone trek across the unforgiving desert.

Qiao Wei, ever the meticulous planner, had stocked up before leaving the last village. Sturdy water pouches hung from their saddles, filled with the village well’s cool, refreshing water.

Dried fruits and nuts, along with hardened bread, were packed neatly inside Qiao Wei’s qiankun pouch, promised sustenance against the gnawing desert hunger.

As they rode, the village receded into the distance, its rustic wooden houses shrinking to mere dots against the vast canvas of sand.

The sun beat down mercilessly, turning the dunes into shimmering waves of gold. The only sounds were the creak of leather and the rhythmic clop-clop of hooves, each step echoing the vast emptiness around them.

After what seemed like an endless parade through the scorching dunes, the heat started to affect the horses. Their flanks were slick with sweat, and they were panting puffs of dust out of their noses.

"We should rest," Qiao Wei said when his horse’s powerful strides turned into sluggish slogs. "The horses must be tired."

"Shizun, do you want me to build a tent for you to rest in for a while?" Huang Taichen quickly asked. He was dying to be useful for Qiao Wei.

"Uh..."

Qiao Wei held a hand above his eyes and squinted at the path ahead of them.

"No need. I can’t see anything in front of us. We still have a long way to go. Best to not dawdle around for too long."

"Oh."

Huang Taichen’s head hung in disappointment.

Qiao Wei smiled at him.

"Don’t worry, we will be there soon. Are you hungry? Here, eat something," Qiao Wei shoved a bundle of food into Huang Taichen’s lap. "Let me take a look at how the horses are doing."

"No, Shizun, let me!!!" Huang Taichen cried out.

"I told you to eat, so eat. Sit down," Qiao Wei walked away from Huang Taichen and started checking the condition of the horseshoes.

Huang Taichen plopped down on the desert sand and bit into a dried nut in resentment.

Why was he so useless? He didn’t even think about checking on the horses before his shizun did!

And he was the one who could speak with animals here!

Sigh, why must his shizun be so awesome?

Huang Taichen was staring at Qiao Wei’s figure from behind absent-mindedly when his eyes were drawn at an object close to Qiao Wei’s ankle.

"SHIZUN, WATCH OUT!!!" He cried out, but it was too late.

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Author’s note :

Beloved readers,

I need to inform you in time that my new book, "The Pregnant Cannon Fodder Is Looking For A Second Husband" starts its MGS period in February, thus I need to focus on this novel to stockpile Chapters for release.

That being said, "Dance Of The Dragons" will be put on hold for max. 1 month, and will resume 1 ch daily release starting from 1st March until the novel ends.

The privilege pricing for February has been updated.

I encourage you to read the Chapters within this month so that you don’t have to buy privilege for next month. You can start buying again in March, when I release a Chapter daily.

You are welcome to read my new work although it’s not a BL. New BL work will be announced close before "Dance Of The Dragons" concludes (⁠´⁠∩⁠｡⁠•⁠ ⁠ᵕ⁠ ⁠•⁠｡⁠∩⁠`⁠).

This author loves you all!